NEW YORK President Bush, according to reports, is strongly considering sending a "surge" of troops to Iraq in the new year -- 20,000 or more. Sen. John McCain and Sen. Joe Lieberman have already backed such a plan. But a new poll for CNN released Monday found that this idea draws the support of only 11 percent of Americans.
Fewer than a third of Americans still support the war in Iraq, and more than half say they want U.S. troops out of the country within a year, according to the ... (more)
A junior hockey player has been ousted from the Saint John Sea Dogs after he did not sign a Canadian flag that the team was sending to troops in Afghanistan.
Dave Bouchard — a 20-year-old from Jonquière, Que., who played left wing on the Quebec Major Junior team — said he thought someone else had already signed his name.
But Sea Dogs coach Jacques Beaulieu said he did not accept that explanation and cut him from the team after Saturday's game.... (more)
President Bush said today that he plans to expand the size of the U.S. military to meet the challenges of a long-term global war against terrorists, a response to warnings that sustained deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan have stretched the armed forces to near the breaking point.
In an interview with The Washington Post, Bush said he has instructed newly sworn-in Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates to report back to him with a plan to increase ground forces. The president gave no ... (more)
WASHINGTON - An accident that occurred last year as a decades-old nuclear warhead was being dismantled at the government's Pantex facility near Amarillo could have caused the device to detonate, a nonprofit organization charged Thursday.
The Project on Government Oversight watchdog group said the "near miss," which led the Energy Department to fine the plant's operator $110,000, was caused in part by technicians at the plant being required to work up to 72 hours per week.
... (more)
# Dose ten times the lethal level
# Investigators are baffled by amount
British investigators believe that Alexander Litvinenko’s killers used more than $10 million of polonium-210 to poison him. Preliminary findings from the post mortem examination on the former KGB spy suggest that he was given more than ten times the lethal dose.
Police do not know why the assassins used so much of the polonium-210, and are investigating whether the poison was part o... (more)
American troops lead a group of Iraqi children in a profane chant, as seen in a video viewed by RAW STORY.
In the brief, undated video at the site liveleak.com, a U.S. soldier appears atop a military vehicle as another mills about, directing the children to shout, "F*ck Iraq." The youngsters, though smiling, do not seem to understand what it is they are saying.
The soldiers have a laugh, presumably at the childrens' expense, with one at the end heard saying with a ... (more)
President Bush and Vice President Cheney today heaped lavish praise on outgoing Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, part of an afternoon of military pageantry and tribute for the man who was ousted from his job after becoming the face of the increasingly unpopular war in Iraq.
"This man knows how to lead and he did, and the country is better off for it," Bush said at the outdoor Pentagon ceremony for the departing 74-year-old Rumsfeld, the nation's second-longest serving def... (more)
A fence-building company in Southern California agrees to pay nearly $5 million in fines for hiring illegal immigrants. Two executives from the company may also serve jail time. The Golden State Fence Company's work includes some of the border fence between San Diego and Mexico.
After an immigration check in 1999 found undocumented workers on its payroll, Golden State promised to clean house. But when followup checks were made in 2004 and 2005, some of those same illegal workers ... (more)
A cadre of U.S. lawmakers fired off a letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales pleading for new information on the five-years-and-running investigation into the 2001 anthrax scare that shocked South Dakota when then-Sen. Tom Daschle's office was caught up in the attacks.
The bipartisan letter, signed by 33 members of Congress this week, extends an effort by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., to persuade the FBI to release an update ... (more)
Note: The following report was published before it was announced today that Senator Johnson had suffered a stroke.
* Key figures as inquiry spreads
* Interpol joins the hunt for murderer
Key witnesses in the Alexander Litvinenko investigation are missing, with their families claiming that they fear for their lives.
The sudden disappearance of a number of leading figures linked to the affair will make it even harder for British detectives, whose inquiry has now spread across five countries.
Interpol joined the hunt for the murderer yesterday, saying that it ... (more)
The Federal Trade Commission yesterday said that companies engaging in word-of-mouth marketing, in which people are compensated to promote products to their peers, must disclose those relationships.
In a staff opinion issued yesterday, the consumer protection agency weighed in for the first time on the practice. Though no accurate figures exist on how much money advertisers spend on such marketing, it is quickly becoming a preferred method for reaching consumers who are skeptical ... (more)
Earlier this week, TV cable channel Showtime began the second season of Sleeper Cell: American Terror. The clip, from the show's season opener, begins wi... (more)
Dec. 10, 2006 — It's supposed to say sweet things to little girls like, "You're a wonderful friend," but push its button the wrong way and the Little Mermaid Shimmering Lights Ariel doll may say something else — "You're a slut," according to a California mother whose allegation came to light in a newspaper report.
The doll's manufacturer, Mattel, doesn't believe it's possible, and a company spokeswoman said the complaint by Stephanie Herrera of San Jose, Calif. —... (more)
Why are Jews attending a conference on the Holocaust in Tehran at which star guests include deniers of the genocide? Clue: they also want an end to the Israeli state.
A handful of Orthodox Jews have attended Iran's controversial conference questioning the Nazi genocide of the Jews - not because they deny the Holocaust but because they object to using it as justification for the existence of Israel.
With their distinctive hats, beards and side locks, these men may, t... (more)
Barnes:…and the day before he leavers office—carry out the military option in Iran. Wipe out their nuclear facilities…. That's just wonderful. Bomb Iran and leave it for the next president to clean up. That's the typ... (more)
The Iraq Study Group’s recommendation that the Bush administration consider ordering government civilians to Iraq has drawn outrage from federal employees’ unions.
Civilian agencies have been seeking volunteers to assist with efforts in Iraq. But the report states that the potential danger of the assignment means few qualified candidates have taken the offer.
Therefore: “In the short term, if not enough civilians volunteer to fill key positions in ... (more)
The Illinois State Rifle Association says it will draft legislation allowing law-abiding citizens to carry firearms for their own defense.
The concealed carry legislation -- a response to Friday's deadly shooting in a downtown Chicago law office -- will be introduced in both chambers of the Illinois General Assembly early next year, ISRA said.
"One has to wonder how the outcome may have differed had any of the law office staff been trained and licensed to carry a d... (more)
A PRIMARY school sacked a woman teacher for telling heartbroken nine-year-olds there is no Father Christmas.
Parents were furious when tearful youngsters went home saying they had also been taught elves and fairies did not exist either.
The supply teacher, in her 30s, had her contract terminated after complaints to the head. Mum Amanda Piovesana, 30, said her daughter was shocked to be told: “You are old enough to know there is no Santa or fairies. If you ask ... (more)
